26-39 50th ANNIVERSARY:SPN Master pages 15/09/2009 10:21 Page 27
Celebrating 50 years of Swimming Pool News spnfeature
OPPOSITE: Three covers taken from issues that appeared in (left to
right) 1974, 1986 and 1991
RIGHT: 1977 and the magazine was still called Swimming Pool and
a strong advertising market meant bumper mid summer issues
RIGHT MIDDLE: 1977 – SPATA still strongly pushing forward its
membership drive
FAR RIGHT: 1977 and the magazine put a lot of emphasis on technical
features keeping readers up to date in a fast changing world
of the industry – ‘Design – Construction – It has adapted to many changes and readers and a resilient advertising base.
Maintenance’ was to remain the editorial proved to be as irrepressible and steadfast We thank readers, advertisers and
focus for the next 20 years. as the industry itself. We can look forward contributors for making SPN the magazine
It remained a quarterly title reflecting to another 50 years with a strong base of it is today and will be in the future."
how limited the market was.
In 1970 Clarke & Hunter’s business was
taken over by Penrose & Co. With the
change in ownership came the switch to
ENERGY CONSERVATION – A NEVER ENDING THEME
a new name for the magazine – In the last 50 years no focus within the pumps. Heatstar’s founder was Tony
Swimming Pool. swimming pool trade has become more Andrews, father of present Heatstar
The two key figures in the publication intense than energy conservation. director Jackie Scott. Using his experience
during the 1970s were editor Michael Oil embargoes, CO
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emissions, three as an air conditioning engineer he
Cope but in particular Michael Seymour at day weeks, oil price hikes, environmental designed one of the very first heat pumps
that stage advertisement manager. pressure and energy efficiency demands for the pool market in the early 70s and
Half way through the 1970s the have all hit the headlines and affected set up Heatstar to commercially
editorial content was based still on the smooth passage of the pool industry manufacture these units in 1980.
technical articles informing readers about through the decades. Continuous product development and
heat recovery; the versatility of concrete In 2009 it still remains the biggest innovation has enabled Heatstar to stay
and even then the future of solar energy. theme around – for specialist trades, at the forefront of environmentally
Trade shows were starting to get coverage industry and government. friendly technology. Today Heatstar is
especially in the United States where the There is now so much momentum acknowledged to be one of the best
market was booming and this side of the focused on fuel costs, energy efficiency, companies in the world for the
Atlantic there were real hopes of a rapid carbon emissions and energy security that manufacture of high quality, energy
market expansion. it is now difficult to see a future, either efficient swimming pool environmental
The advertising base was still long or short term, where technologies control units still out front in helping the
engineering and pool builders but pool do not have a significant role to play. pool trade reduce its carbon emissions.
covers, ‘debris covers’ started to enter the And nowhere more than with heat Philosophy and commitment to change
market. New for 1977 was the Fairlocks pumps, one of the more unusual and update has brought energy efficiency
Pool Vacuum Heads! products used on pools, in that they to its current stage with the company’s
And in 1977 colour front cover and generally command a price sufficient to Gemini Climate Control Unit with energy
colour ads started to appear but it would attract interest and awareness from many digital fan technology, together with the
be some time before editorial made a end customers. They have increasingly ‘all-in-one’ dehumidifier heat pump and
colour appearance. become a ‘user chooser’ product and this fresh air heat pump concept.
It was Michael Seymour who became the awareness has ensured that heat pumps Billed as the solution to help with very
long term figurehead of the publication as have continued to develop individual high energy prices, the new Gemini
advertising manager and then in a styles, visual designs and features to represents the ‘state of the art’ approach
publishers role as into the 80s the first attract prospective clients. for low energy climate control within both
signs of hot tub and spa advertising The concept of the heat pump is domestic and commercial indoor pools.
started – more importantly then perhaps nothing new, with the first patent for a In everyone’s drive for energy
the development of a wider range of pool working example being awarded in 1927 conservation the pool cover in its many
accessories for the industry. to an Englishman called Haldane. forms and the heat pump have fashioned
In 1990 the magazine was then taken However, their application as a heating themselves into almost legendary
over by M.G.S Publishing and the name method for pools is a more recent proportions. Both are here to stay.
change then was the final one to development, pioneered by Heatstar’s Tony
Swimming Pool News. Andrews and Calorex’s Bob Buck in the
A new larger A4 format, more colour, 1970s, in response to the energy awareness
and after the tough years of the early resulting from the 1973 oil crisis.
1980s the advertising base expanded and Heatstar, the swimming pool
attracted others and Swimming Pool News environmental control manufacturer has
lost its exclusive place in the industry as played a major role in enabling UK
competition came into the market. swimming pools to be both energy and
More recently the title moved to Market CO
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role models-going back 28 years.
Link Publishing and Archant before moving Paul Scott, Heatstar’s Technical
to its new owners Go Publishing in 2005. Director, says: “Heat pumps have been
Co-publisher Tony Weston, who has offering environmentally friendly solutions
been associated with the title for 10 years for almost 30 years – it seems that only ABOVE: No one could have dreamt of this 50
as publisher and, more recently, co-owner now is the rest of the world catching up.”
years ago – Heatstar’s Gemini Climate
said; "Swimming Pool News has always Heatstar was one of the first companies
Control Unit with energy digital fan
technology, dehumidifier heat pump and
had a fantastic reputation and strong in the UK to design and manufacture heat fresh air heat pump concept
standing in the industry.
Visit our website at www.swimmingpoolnews.co.uk >>> October 09 Swimming Pool News 27
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